After all these years, I'm convinced that felt recoil is is enormously affected by the fit of the stock. I've had .458 Win Mags that were quite comfortable, and .308 Winchesters that just plain hurt.
I once had a nice light Tikka (Model 65 maybe? With a wood stock and detachable magazine, in the '80s) chambered in .338 WM. I swear, every time I touched it off my face would go numb for half an hour and I'd be almost unable to raise my arm. I sold it to a woman about 5'6" tall and 120 pounds soaking wet. I protested like crazy, and was very reluctant to even let her try it, but she insisted. She loved it! As far as I know, she hunted with it for years.
I currently have a SAKO L61R in .375 H&H. It was pretty wicked to start with, until I added an inch to the stock, took a half inch off the comb and had the bolt handle straightened. Now it's a joy to shoot. A 788 Remington in .308 mistreated me so badly that I sold it as quick as I could.
If you have a recoil problem, get a good stock smith to measure you up and fit your rifle to you. You wouldn't wear the wrong size shoes, because they'd hurt - but nobody stops to think that maybe their rifle hurts because it doesn't fit either!
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